[caption id="attachment_2771" align="alignleft" width="300"] Michael W. Wynne[/caption] The Defense Industrial Base Under Pressure: How to Lead With Shrinking Manufacturing Capabilities? Schumpeter, in his classic approach to creative economic destruction, watched consolidation in technologies and industries driven by natural forces until a secondary or new technology essentially destroyed the hold…
This is the first of regular contributions by Rear Admiral (Retired) Ed Gilbert, one of the most experienced and knowledgeable experts on maritime security, who is president of Gilbert Associates and a frequent commentator on the challenges facing the US Coast Guard today. The pressing need to modernize U.S. Coast…
The Administration Proposes a New Model for the Vertical Lift Industry: Shaping a Way Ahead on Research and Development On October 27, 2009, a vertical lift aviation industry day was held by DOD to try to set in motion a new approach to the industry . The approach was legitimized…
Ninety years ago, British strategist and inventor Major General J.F.C. Fuller understood that “Tools, or weapons, if only the right ones can be discovered, form 99 percent of victory…. Strategy, command, leadership, courage, discipline, supply, organization and all the moral and physical paraphernalia of war are nothing to a high…
Reports of China's impending decision to restrict exports of rare-earth minerals has suddenly awoken the U.S. government to its dependence on China for virtually all of the permanent magnets and rare-earth materials used throughout the defense industrial complex. China controls more than 95 percent of the world's supply of rare-earth…
[caption id="attachment_627" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Robert Johnson"][/caption] The shape of tactical vehicle modernization impacts on other services and on other procurement choices. We discuss elsewhere the C5M modernization effort: determining what vehicles the lift fleet will carry is an important driver in debates about what to modernize and what to buy…
9/17/09 A key argument for buying newer platforms compared to older ones is the savings built into a new platform over the operational and logistics costs of the older platform. In the commercial airplane business, both Boeing and Airbus design and build their newest platforms with significant enhancements in sustainability…
[caption id="attachment_545" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="RAPC Protector"][/caption] As budgets get tighter and competition among vendors accelerates, both government and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers are looking and will continue to look for additional value from the shrinking dollars available. One way to "squeeze" more from a limited budget is to manufacture…
